Varvara Gracheva started her season on clay, winning her first round match in Charleston against Harriet Dart in three sets.
While French female tennis has lived its worst season for several decades, notably with the release of the Top 100 from Caroline Garcia this Monday, Varvara Gracheva brings a small ray of sunshine. The French and world n ° 1 n ° 66 won its match of the first round on the clay of the green clay of Charleston, which marks the start of the season on this surface for women (men, for their part, have already played on earth in South America in February). Opposed to the British Harriet Dart, 109th in the world, which she faced for the first time, the Frenchwoman has enforced the hierarchy.
She needed three sets, but the main thing is there, with this victory 6-1, 3-6, 6-1 in 1:50. Breakée from entry to the match, Varvara Gracheva reacted the best way by winning the following six games, and therefore the first set. In the second, it was the Frenchwoman who took the British service from the start, but she failed to keep her advantage, getting lost in stride, then at 3-2, which therefore allowed Dart to equalize for a round everywhere.
And now, Mertens!
In the third, Varvara Gracheva saved an entrance break ball, and this fright gave him going for the rest of the meeting. The Frenchwoman reached Breaker at 2-1 on her first opportunity, then saved a Débreak ball, before breaking again at 4-1 and prevailing on her first match ball. After three months of competition, it is only the fifth victory of Gracheva this season, that will do him good in morale.
In the knockout stages, the French n ° 1 will have to raise its level, because it is the world world, Elise Mertens, which will appear to it. However, the Belgian is not in an extraordinary form, she who lost in the second round to Indian Wells and Miami.
